We have done with Hope and Honour. we are lost to Love and Truth, We are dropping down the ladder rung by rung; And the measure of our torment is the measure of our youth. God help us, for we knew the worst too young!
Four things greater than all things are Women and horses and power and War.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that women, horses, power, and war are of paramount importance in life.
Rudyard Kipling's quote reflects on the profound influence and significance of four entities—women, horses, power, and war—in the human experience. By framing these elements as greater than all else, he highlights their pivotal roles in shaping society, culture, and individual lives. The mention of women emphasizes their importance, while horses signify loyalty and strength, power represents authority and control, and war embodies conflict and struggle. Together, they encapsulate key aspects of existence and the complexities of human relations.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about the role of women in society, one could use this quote to emphasize their significance.
More from Rudyard Kipling
All quotes →Humble because of knowledge; mighty by sacrifice.
Hear and attend and listen; for this is what befell and be-happened and became and was, O my Best Beloved, when the Tame animals were wild. The dog was wild, and the Horse was wild, and the Cow was wild, and the Sheep was wild, and the Pig was wild -as wild as wild could be - and they walked in the Wet Wild Woods by their wild lones. But the wildest of all the wild animals was the Cat. He walked by himself and all places were alike to him
I keep six honest serving men.
And when your back stops aching and your hands begin to harden, You will find yourself a partner in the Glory of the Garden.
Savings represent much more than mere money value. They are the proof that the saver is worth something in himself. Any fool can waste; any fool can muddle; but it takes something more of a man to save and the more he saves the more of a man he makes of himself. Waste and extravagance unsettle a man's mind for every crisis; thrift, which means some form of self-restraint, steadies it.
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The chief product of an automated society is a widespread and deepening sense of boredom.
Tyranny is for the worst of treasons.
As the imagination is set to look into the invisible and immaterial, it seems to attract something of their vitality; and though it can give nothing to the body to redeem it from years, it can give to the soul that freshness of youth in old age which is even more beautiful than youth in the young.
How can I lose faith in the justice of life, when the dreams of those who sleep upon feathers are not more beautiful than the dreams of those who sleep upon the earth?
The farther we get away from the land, the greater our insecurity.
Today we are crushed by the sheer weight of the mechanized forces hurled against us, but we can still look to the future in which even greater mechanized forces will bring us victory. Therein lies the destiny of the world.